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CHAPTER TWELVE

CHANEL

Z and took my hand in his. The feeling of true love filled my body despite our location in the basement. The crematorium was creepy, but I couldn’t see how it could be labeled as anything else.

I looked into Zand’s honey-colored eyes.

They reflected the harsh fluorescent lights and appeared to twinkle.

His expression shifted into something more vulnerable than I’d ever seen in him.

I loved this man too much. But at that moment, I didn’t want to stop it.

I didn’t want to heed the warnings. I wanted to be with him, no matter what.

Glaring at Marisol, helpless on the slab, brought me peace. My hate for her was an understatement. I hated what I had to endure. Her brother tricked me. I didn’t want remnants of the Lopez family here in my new life.

Killing Marisol wouldn’t be this difficult thing, because she wasn’t even human anymore.

I seriously doubted she was human to begin with.

After staring that evil bitch down, I finally looked back at Zand’s flawless face.

The man I loved was a killer, a monster by human standards.

Yet he had also protected me, loved me, respected me in ways no human man ever had.

“I brought you here tonight for two reasons.” Zand said. His voice echoed eerily against the concrete walls, and I heard a little bit of Sesame Street, Count Dracula, in his tone. “To show you this side of my world, and to ask you a question I’ve been considering for longer than you might imagine.”

Marisol’s eyes enlarged further as she watched us.

I wanted to draw her last moments out. I wanted to torture her the way she tortured me.

All the sleep I lost, thinking she would come back and kill me after she left me, beat the hell up in the parking lot of my apartment.

I really believed she would’ve killed me if Miss Hampton in apartment 1B didn’t show up and scare her off.

Zand released my hand to reach into his pocket. He removed a small, pretty red velvet box. I held my breath as he held the jewelry box between us, not yet opening it.

“I want you as my queen.” He told me.

His words hung heavy in the air. They were now accompanied by this gift. I couldn’t see what was in the box. My mind swirled with the possibilities. It could be, but I didn’t want to assume.

“Chanel, I want you. Not just as my wife or partner, but my true equal in this world I’m creating. Someone who knows about the good and the bad in me, who understands why it’s necessary. Someone who stands beside me through vampire blood and fire.”

I knew Zand sounded like some maniacal monster from a B vampire movie horror film. Since I’d never been in this situation, I didn’t know how to convey my feelings without sounding like Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood. or Bella Swan from Twilight.

My eyes remained fixed on the tiny red box while Zand slowly opened it. The reveal was epic. I was awestruck. There was a brilliant, sparkling ring inside the box.

“It’s a black diamond set in platinum, surrounded by smaller white diamonds.” He explained. “It’s unlike any traditional engagement ring, which seems fitting for what I’m proposing.”

The word engagement made my heart ease on down the road. Zand was dead serious about me. Why did I think dead serious? Poor choice of words from my jumbled brain. This wasn’t a traditional proposal. It was so much more. We were getting engaged in the basement of a crematorium.

“I’ve lived alone, Chanel. I’ve had a few companions, even a dreadful wife once.” He acknowledged, glancing briefly at Marisol as if to emphasize the fate that awaited Teresa. “But I’ve never had someone I loved and trusted in every way possible. Not until you.”

My fingers trembled slightly as they hovered over the ring, not quite touching it. “This is what the surprise was about? A proposal and an execution?” I joked as my nervousness entered the chat.

“Yes.” He admitted without apology. “Macabre maybe, but two sides of the same commitment. I’m a vampire, and I want you to understand that and love me, anyway.”

“I love you and I saw the real you with my own eyes and I’m still here willingly.”

“This is true.” He admitted. “I want to share everything with you. I want you forever. In sickness and health. Till death do us part, like the humans say.”

“I want the same thing.” The nervousness left my body and was replaced with pure joy.

“So, is this a yes? You will be my queen, wife, soul mate and life partner.”

“Ah, hell yeah!” I jumped into his arms, and he lifted me off my feet and spun me around a few times. His lips pressed into mine and passion oozed from him and into me.

When he placed me down on my feet, I shook off my dizziness.

Like a sleight of hand magic trick, the red velvet box was back in front of me.

Zand removed the ring from its box. He gently slid the platinum band on my ring finger.

I held it up before me and admired the beauty of it.

The black diamond caught the harsh light of the basement and transformed it into something exquisitely beautiful.

It looked like it cost a pretty penny, a noteworthy nickel, a delightful dime, and a cutesy quarter.

I is getting married now! Broken English be damned!

Our eyes met over this symbol of our everlasting union, and I was in awe of the perfection of this moment.

My smile almost cracked the skin on my face.

Then I remembered that black don’t crack, and I could smile as hard as I wanted too.

I peered at Zand to notice his face was a mirror of mine.

My Mr. Vampire hooked me all the way up.

This ring was a dream. I was in the clouds and my mister vampire put me there.

“Hey, you gotta do one more thing before we leave this place.” He reminded me of my task.

“Oh yeah, her.” That bitch! “And after I kill her, what happens to her remains? Her ashes?”

The question seemed to surprise him. I could see it in the slight raise of his brow. “Virgil will toss her in the garbage, per my instruction.” He replied with a shrug. “Or I don’t know the lake, river, somewhere. It doesn’t matter once they’re reduced to dust.”

Something in me shifted. My smile was gone, and vengeance altered my features. “I want her ashes.” I stated with a voice I didn’t recognize as my own.

“Marisol’s ashes?” He clarified.

“Yes.” My voice was firm and commanding. “I want to keep them. For myself.”

Zand tilted his head. He was studying me and there was a look of confusion, or maybe surprise, in his hazelnut eyes. “May I ask why?”

“That bitch.” I glared down at Marisol. “Attacked me. Put me in the hospital. Came into my life to fuck it up.” My words emerged precisely formed, each one carrying the weight of my recent trauma. “I want something to remind me that this raggedy ass bitch can never hurt anyone again.”

“A trophy.” A slow smile spread across Zand’s face.

I knew my request was unexpected, but I was on ten.

This bitch was trash. She already was a part of Lonzo’s criminal organization.

I saw her brother kill, but I was sure she had done the same.

She was my enemy, and I wanted to keep her close even in death.

I had to keep my head on a swivel because of her family.

Now I wanted to make sure I never forget to keep my eyes opened and brain fully activated.

If Zand was calling for me to be his queen, I needed to act like one.

I couldn’t be afraid of the people that did me dirty.

I could hold my head high and wear them around my neck in a chain.

I wasn’t going to tell Zand I wanted to wear a bit of her ashes in a necklace.

He might think I was crazy. I could save that part for another time.

“Then her ashes will be yours.” He conceded, with a look of pride on his face. Zand closed the ring box and returned it to his pocket. “I’ll tell Virgil to collect them and have them messengered over to the loft right away.”

“Thank you.” I smiled inside.

“First, love, you need to create those ashes.” Zand stepped back from the control panel, gesturing toward the red button. “The honors belong to you?”

Without hesitation, I moved forward. My fingers flipped up the protective cover, hovering over the red button for just a moment. I looked directly at Marisol, whose eyes now were registering pure dread.

I gave her my evilest eye. “Go to hell, you stupid bitch!” I said because I felt like I had already called her fifteen thousand raggedy hoes.

I admired my engagement ring as I sat there on the button, and I pressed it firmly.

The mechanism engaged with a low hydraulic hiss.

The stone bed seemed to activate. I rushed the few steps to get a closer look.

This was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I really wanted to see this bitch burn. The stone door opened and the flatbed that held her body slid forward.

It carried Marisol’s bound form into the opening of the cremation chamber.

The fire was intense. It was alarmingly hot, five alarm fire hot.

It was hotter than the fourth of July. Baby, it was ba-dee-ya, say do you remember, ba-dee-ya, dancing in September hot.

Marisol’s fingers twitched. Her toes did the same.

“The serum is wearing off.” Zand coolly explained as he stood beside me. “You hit the button just in time.”

There was no sound from Marisol, but her horrified eyes communicated everything as her body glided into the blazing flames. My blood pressure probably rose to the ceiling, but I didn’t even care. I was in my villain era.

The heavy door of the chamber sealed automatically.

A small, glazed window allowed us to observe what happened next, and I was there for it.

I didn’t look away, and neither did my future vampire king fiancé.

We stood shoulder to shoulder as the chamber ignited even more.

The flames grew in height and shone brighter in color.

The flames attached to Marisol’s frame completely. Through the reinforced glass, we watched as fire consumed her naked body. The fire burned a bluish white in color.

“This chamber is far hotter than a standard crematorium. It’s designed specifically to destroy vampire tissue completely.” Zand elaborated on what he told me earlier.

“How long does it take?” My voice was steady despite the inferno I was witnessing.

“Twenty minutes for complete incineration.” He replied. “Another ten to fifteen for cooling. Virgil will collect the ashes afterward.”

We stood in silence, watching the fire do its work. Zand’s hand found mine. Our fingers twined together as Marisol’s body blackened and disintegrated. There’s something intimate about watching death together in this way. It was a bond formed in the deliberate extinction of another.

When the flames finally died down. I felt a surge of absolute. My face had shifted again, revealing a half tranquil satisfaction. My glass was half full, and I needed it to be filled to the brim.

“Now that’s one less bitch I have to worry about.” I said, cause she ain’t no diva. My voice carried none of the horror or regret one might have expected as a human witnessing such destruction.

Zand raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed by my composure. “You’re taking this remarkably well.”

Maybe he didn’t know it, but I was that girl. I was the Blackbird that took my broken wing and learned to fly.

“Did you expect me to cry for the bitch who tried to kill me? For the sister of the man who murdered Morgan’s boyfriend and terrorized us?” I shook my head. “No, Zand. I’ve learned that some people don’t deserve my tears.”

My fingers tightened around his as he looked back at the cooling chamber. “Teresa has to die next.” I calmly stated with the utmost certainty. “For what she did to Morgan and what she did to you. I want to be there to see it happen.”

Zand studied my face is if he was seeing me for the first time. Maybe it was the same look I gave him when he turned into a vampire before my eyes and ripped Lonzo to pieces. I knew right at that moment I was no longer a pediatric nurse. I was a burgeoning vampire queen.

“For you, my love, Teresa will be next.” He agreed, unable to keep the satisfaction from his voice and the crooked smiled off his lips. He bent to kiss me roughly and possessively. The kiss felt like someone sent sparks of passion to my pussy.

“I never imagined my engagement would happen in a crematorium.” I jokingly said. Wondering if I would ever be able to share this story with someone other than Morgan. Probably not.

“Would you prefer somewhere more conventional? I can arrange an additional proposal anywhere it pleases you. A white sand beach, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, a White Sox game?” He offered, and I realized he wasn’t joking.

Zand could make it happen and would if I requested a grand gesture.

I shook my head no, lifting my hand to admire how my ring caught the light. “No. This is perfect. This is us.” I gazed up at him.

“This is us.” He repeated, pulling me against his firm body. “From now on, we rule together.”

Our lips met in another kiss that tasted like power.

Teresa’s days were numbered. Chicago’s vampire world was about to discover what happens when the right queen took her place beside the King.

My brain chemistry was different now. I was different.

I wasn’t the scared little nurse that was afraid to testify against a monster.

I wasn’t the single Black female that had to run away to another state to get away from her past. Now, I was strong, and I was fearless, and I owed it all to Zand.

He loved and ignited something in me that made me want to fight.

Things were different now and although I had an army of vampires that would fight to protect me, I wanted to learn to protect myself. Like Malcolm Little said, by any means necessary.